Some Thoughts on Joe Carollo’s Tower Theater Press Conference

I made a rather long thread while listening to Joe Carollo’s press conference about Miami Dade College losing the Tower Theater. This includes brash commentary, debunking of lies, and questioning some of the baffling proposals he brings up in why the Tower will be reverting to the City of Miami after twenty years of management by MDC.

My tweets, collected (with some additional new notes where necessary in italics):

All of the “Little Havana community representatives” standing here should be ashamed of themselves. Carollo dismisses the Tower as a place for “movies that are barely seen”. Killing & turning the Tower into a “visitors center” for tourists/pamphlets is grotesque and unnecessary.

When he says “we’re going to keep showing movies but more Spanish language because that appeals to the community,” he outright ignores that the Tower plays films of all languages, ESPECIALLY IN SPANISH, and even offers Spanish subtitles on new releases for their audience. In addition to this, Miami Film Festival is one of the biggest Latin American festivals in the country and their home venue is the Tower.

Our only multi-screen art cinema (as Gables Cinema, O Cinema, and Cosford Cinema each have one-screen at the time of this writing) is being taken from the folks attempting to run it properly and handed to idiots who don’t know what they’re doing. “We will be doing documentary shorts about Little Havana and where to go.”

That’s not film. That’s tourism — a literal commercial.

He wants to make “documentary shorts” about Celia Cruz and Gloria Estefan, Cuban history, and other parts of the city, but that’s not what an art cinema exists for. The American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora is right there. Bay of Pigs Museum too. Freedom Tower. The list goes on.

He also notes that the Tower Theater will become a “regular theater of the arts” but that makes no sense. Neither of its spaces are designed to be an actual stage theater; you can barely fit folks on the first stage, no convenient backstage, not even the design or spacing for a proper black box theater.

Why should creating a new space for theater (of which we have plenty, many of which are underattended, contrary to what Joe is saying here) come at the loss of a cinema? There are tons of empty spaces waiting to be reclaimed if not for Miami’s awful real estate.

“The second floor will have rotating art exhibits” isn’t anything new, considering that MDC has actively been doing that for years themselves at the Tower Theater. This man is a fucking idiot & pitching a ton of ideas that either exist or are unattainable without destruction.

Most recently, and currently until Oct 12th, the Tower Theater has an exhibition by local Cuban-American artist Daniel Marin called Kitsch Medley. They also have an ongoing series of documentaries about famous artists playing alongside their art exhibitions.

His answer to the first question in Spanish, boldly claiming that the City of Miami-managed Teatro Artime brings the largest amount of people to see stage productions locally, is patently false. How can someone say that in a city where the Adrienne Arsht Center exists? The management of this theater (Artime) is terrible, frankly; barely any real productions other than minuscule Spanish language shows, with other theaters largely outselling and outperforming and out-staging them. Just to name a few local spaces that stage Spanish language productions on a more professional level and with greater attendance: Microteatro, Teatro Trail, and Teatro 8.

He’s arguing with this woman, who challenges his responses (though she’s barely audible), and working under the assumption that tourists will pay a minimum and that this cultural arts center will make money somehow while operating day and night to fund itself. How? No real answer.

The City of Miami will be in charge of choosing who gets to use the space it seems. This will, undoubtedly, result in problems. Carollo says (loos translation): “Those who disagree and have thrown snide remarks will have to bite their tongues when they see how well we do.”

He is outright confrontational to this woman, who he says “comes with venom”. He’s also bringing up his own past vendetta with Ball & Chain and their “loud music” that “doesn’t let people sleep” and how her reporting was bad and skewed against him, defending her friend who ran it. After insulting her as a reporter, he says he didn’t insult her and that he’s not like other politicians who cower at the questions they’re asked. In other words: it’s the Trump playbook, simply dodge any actual questioning, propose bullshit, and keep moving on.

“$13 is their normal ticket price” is said of MDC’s Tower Theater screening cost. This is not entirely true, with costs ranging $8–12.75 depending on the time and day. He implies tickets at the new joint for Miami residents would be “half that price”, which is…unsustainable. Anyone who works in the film industry and particularly in the programming and management of theaters, from multiplexes to arthouses, can tell you this.

Apparently theatrical productions will cost “anywhere from $15 to $20 — I don’t know” which, again, is unsustainable and flat out unrealistic. Even smaller companies in Miami charge $40+ per show because they HAVE to. This man doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

For example, some local theater productions that are debuting this month and their ticket costs:
Zoetic Stage and Adrienne Arsht Center’s production of Mlima’s Tale charges $55–60.
Area Stage Company’s Black Box Theatre production of Sweeney Todd charges $35–65.
Teatro Trail’s production La Otra Mascarilla charges $40–60, El Amante de mi mujer charges $30–50, and A Quien no le gusta eso charges $35.

“For tourists that want to see documentaries about what there is to see in the city and other documentaries on Miami, the city maybe could charge a dollar.” That… is not an incentive to visit the Tower. That is charging people to be fed advertising??? which is insane???

“One thing that has always bothered me is that I don’t see the visitor and convention bureau coming out with pamphlets.” “Every pamphlet is for places outside of the City of Miami itself.”

Make??? pamphlets??? then??? what the fuck is he talking about?????

I believe he’s being challenged (again, can’t hear questions) about when the last time he went to the area was and experienced arts (presumably the Tower itself) and he says he’s too busy, but notes he went for a luncheon. Further showcase of not engaging with what he’s killing.

I also forgot to mention — but it’s okay because he brought it up again unprompted — that Carollo loves bragging about how he graduated from Miami Dade College at 18.

He says they’ve spoken to people “with the largest collections of films in Spanish” to bring to Miami. This is not how film programming and distribution works. That is, undoubtedly, a bald-faced lie. And, I once again must note, MDC and MFF prioritize Spanish language cinema.

He notes that they want to open the Tower’s art exhibition with something special on Celia Cruz because that hasn’t been seen anywhere else in Miami. Again, false. Let me show you all TWO exhibitions based on Celia Cruz that have been featured in Miami over the last decade:

Per the actual Celia Cruz website, here is some writing on an exhibition called Azucar! (which was not only at Miami’s Bass Museum but at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History): https://celiacruz.com/project/azucar-the-life-music-and-legacy-of-celia-cruz-an-exhibit/

And, as I’m sure many Miamians remember (I might even have some pics on an old phone from it!), there was also the magnificent and dense exhibition at the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora called Forever Celia: https://celiacruz.com/you-can-call-it-the-cuban-miami-florida/

Carollo notes that they will be reworking the larger theater of the two to have a “bigger stage for productions” — if you’ve ever been in the Tower and know its blueprint, you would know this is impossible. The smaller is “easier to change and add a stage”. Outright nonsense.

His “documentaries” will be in English (maybe with Spanish subtitles) and are geared at tourists, enabling them to know where to go in Little Havana and the City of Miami. He is, effectively, killing an art cinema to create a literal house for propaganda. Astounding.

He is now slandering the Tower (which he, just earlier, said he was too busy to attend much, so what would he know about it?) and their attendance, saying that there are “very few people” there whenever you go. Every cinema has its ups-and-downs on attendance; Tower no different.

As a friend just noted to me: it is worth mentioning that “they literally have lines out the door for their current film, ARGENTINA 1985, which is Argentina’s Oscar submission.”

A favorite idiotic bit: “Miami Dade College is a college to educate people. They are not a movie theater or art provider. This is not their forte, in running theaters and putting films.”

What, exactly, then makes the City of Miami more qualified to run an arts organization?

As my friend also noted: “It’s run by a team of professionals who are knowledgeable about the business of running movie theaters who have been hired by the college to do just that.”

Because he has no proof of how the cinema is doing in terms of ticket sales and attendancec, Corollo then cites “the security guard that works at Domino Plaza” who apparently told him that “on most weekend nights, she doesn’t have more than ten people that go there to see a movie”. This is insanely false. Any box office report can disprove it.

He closes by restating the same bullshit about how the City of Miami can do better than what MDC has done (which…I can’t imagine how the fuck they’re planning on doing that) and how it’ll always remain the Tower Theater (but “with additions”).

Again, he implies that people are lying about it becoming a “commercial venue” or “being torn down” but the additions he’s suggested are in service of getting people to spend more money in Miami and will absolutely require renovations that will distinctly damage the building.

For all my complaints about Miami’s art cinema scene, all I have ever wanted is for this city to flourish. It is heartbreaking to see a landmark like the Tower being taken from people who are trying to make it its best self and being handed to people who are out of touch.

Not too many folks will read this, and plenty will find it easy to dismiss me because of my brashness, but I hope this thread at least offers some context and rebuttals for the lies being spread by those in charge, who seemingly know less about Miami than someone like me.

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Worth mentioning: I may add more to this later.